Magic's Price
by animenut2003
Summary: An ancient prophecy speaks of the Sons of Ipswich solving the problem of magical ageing. Along with discovering a secret society and a revived enemy, they find out that for this prophecy to come true, only one will survive. Slash OCTyler ReidTyler.


Hi all. I've been reading Covenant fan fiction for months now and finally decided to take a crack at it. I was extremely inspired by the whole ancient ritual storyline in The Crimson Ritual by Kos-Mos607 (read it, it's awesome) and I came up with this. Hope you all enjoy.

Warnings: Slash, swearing, and sex. (My three favorite S words).

Disclaimer: I don't own the Covenant or else I would be writing a very slashy sequel.

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Prologue

It was almost time. Gorman had read the signs and pieced through all the prophecies, and today was the day. Pacing back and forth he awaited the sign that was to come. The chain was broken and there was only one person who could have done it.

His face crinkled as he scowled at the window. All this trouble after it had been so quiet for so long disturbed him. For ages since the witch hunts they had kept to the shadows and this chaos threatened to destroy the delicate balance they had acquired. The sons of Ipswich were caught up in prophecies they didn't even know existed and at their center was Chase.

They had known that the Putnam line had not died out and had selfishly allowed events to pass without interference. After all they were only watchers, intended to collect information and pass it on when the time was right.

The children under his watch had finally ascended and now he had to choose which would inherit his information and his power but none of them seemed to be the right choice.

Originally he had wanted to pass on his powers to Caleb but the boy was far to driven by his emotions to watch and not interfere. And with all the knowledge Gorman possessed of the past and future he knew Caleb would take steps to try to shape it for the better. That was dangerous, however, and usually back fired anyway.

Pogue was also too emotional and his outbursts tended to be much more dangerous than Caleb's. He wasn't analytical enough for Gorman to trust him to think before he acted.

Reid was the most volatile of the four but he also had a lot of potential. He would fight to his last breath to protect something and while this was usually due to hotheadedness it was a very important trait for the inheritor.

Tyler was the most promising. He was quiet and tended to fade into the background. His only weakness was his inability to be a leader. Gorman wanted to extract him from the group while the others went off to the local college but he was afraid of the effect that interference would have.

Sighing Gorman sat himself in his chair, looking out the window. It was two minutes to midnight and nothing had happened all day. The prophecy may have been a dud after all. Letting down his guard just a little Gorman almost missed it. A small spike of power and then something came hurtling towards the window.

Jumping out of the way Gorman watched as a large object came through his window and hit the back wall. As the thing hit the floor he discovered what it was. A human body. Four more bodies soon followed and Gorman knew that his sign had finally arrived.

Gorman walked to the window and stared out into the moonless night. There hovered a boy Gorman knew by reputation alone. Chase.

"Come out old man. I have some questions that they and their Keeper wouldn't answer. I thought maybe you could fill me in. Unless you want that to happen to Caleb and the others." Chase was floating too far away to see completely in the dark night, but his power was rolling off him in waves.

"I will not be so easily defeated. If I must I will destroy you myself." Gorman's eye's flashed and suddenly he was outside behind Chase, power forming in his hand.

"Pretty fast for an old man." The words were whispered in his ear and Gorman whirled around releasing his power. Chase went to deflect it and was thrown backwards.

"You've got more than your own power I see. I'm still more powerful than you and soon I shall surpass a god. I got the information I needed out of the other Keepers apprentice. I only wanted to clear a few things up." Chase gathered his power and sent a barrage of energy at Gorman.

It was all Gorman could do to keep from getting hit even with the power of two other warlocks.

Open up to my assistance.

Gorman heard and recognized the voice in his head and instantly allowed the magic to flow through him.

"You can't defeat the two of us." Two voices now spoke through Gorman's mouth as a large ball of energy ripped from the ground beneath Chase and sent him flying.

"Seems that I didn't get here fast enough. It doesn't matter. The next time you see me, I will be even more powerful." Chase turned and fled.

Gorman began to give chase.

And look where it got your charges. They are all dead and you have no one to pass on the knowledge to.

We have a lot to talk about. Come back to the house and we will discuss what has happened and what is about to happen.

* * *

Caleb was not happy. He'd felt someone using the night before and that could only mean one of two things. One of the other covenant members had been using or someone else was here with the power and the last time that happened he'd almost died.

Letting his car screech to a halt in front of the dorms, he jumped out and ran up the stairs to Reid and Tyler's room. Walking in unannounced he was happy to find everyone already here. His own impatience getting to him, he jumped right in. "Please tell me one of you were using last night."

Reid shook his head. "We felt it this time too. Ty thinks it was more than one person from the amount of power being thrown around."

"Then it was probably Gorman. He may have been in a fight." Caleb glanced to Pogue in the corner who gave a slight nod.

"We should probably go check on him then. A fight at his age is dangerous." Pogue detached himself from the wall and started towards the door.

"Don't let him hear you say that. He'd have to kick your ass just to prove a point. Old mans got stamina, hope I do at his age." Reid grinned and elbowed Tyler.

Shaking his head at his friends juvenile actions, Caleb turned towards the door. "We'll meet you there."

It was his fault if something had happened to Gorman. He was the most powerful and he had defeated Caleb. He should have made sure that he was dead but he was just so happy to have won he didn't even think about it. Chase had to be back.

When they pulled up to Gorman's and saw clumps of dirt strewn everywhere their worst fears were realized. Hurrying into the house they followed the sounds of shouting.

"How could you just watch! There must have been something you could have done!"

"And interrupt the precarious balance that has set all this up. We have one chance for this to work and it all has to go according to plan. You will act when you are supposed to and only then."

Bursting through the door ready to attack, all they found were two old men arguing in front of a broken window.

"Why the hell are you here?" Gorman's usual gruff exterior was multiplied by ten as he rounded on them.

"Obviously they felt my visit. I did get a little out of hand with some of those attacks, but I was just keeping you on your toes." The other man appeared to be about 60 with grey shoulder length hair and a bit of the wrinkling that comes with old age. He's eyes were a deep chocolate and seemed to hold infinite knowledge in their depths. All in all he seemed to be pretty well preserved or extremely old for his age. None of the boys were going to guess since he was a warlock.

Gorman turned to his friend, an odd expression on his face, before turning back and motioning to spots on the floor. "Alright come in and meet Dakota. He's come to be a burden for a while."

"I think what my good friend means is I've come to see how everyone's favorite Sons of Ipswich are doing after that debacle with that Chase boy." Dakota smiled pleasantly and watched the boys sit down on the rug. Fidgeting nervously none of them cared to elaborate, this was subject they never really talked about.

"Well I guess I'll ask about what happened at the end. I've heard most of the details from Gorman here but anything you could add would help out a lot. What happened after your father willed his powers to you Caleb?" Dakota leaned forward an intent expression on his face.

"Well after that I used my extra power to reflect Chase's attack back at him. He went flying into the fire and then I went to save Sarah." Caleb's eyes narrowed as he watched the man in front of him. "Is Chase back?"

Dakota smiled and shook his head. "Unfortunately since there was no body we can't be sure he was killed, but since there has been no discernable action on his part for these past few months we can at least assume he's been beaten for a time. He's not here anyway but I'm heading an investigation to see if he can be found."

"Who are you leading an investigation for?" Tyler innocently spoke up.

Dakota thought for a minute before answering. "Some of the older mystics, that's what they like to be called, asked me to since I was in New York on some business."

None of them failed to notice the length of time it took Dakota to answer and all mentally filed it away. They didn't trust new people since Chase.

"Well boys I think you're done here. Me and Dakota have a discussion to finish." Gorman rose to see them out.

"That was some discussion." Reid commented dryly as the exited the house.

"Something's off about Dakota. Gorman doesn't seem to like him." Pogue glanced back up at the house.

"Thank you captain obvious. For his next piece of wisdom he'll tell us the sky is blue."

Caleb shot a glare at the annoying blond, "Reid, stop being an ass. Pogue's right to worry about this. It's obvious he's lying about why he's here. I want to know about why he's so interested in Chase."

"Well standing here talking about it won't get us anywhere. I say you and Pogue go do some research on this guy and me and Baby Boy will go ask around Nicky's." Reid grinned as he threw an arm over Tyler's shoulder.

Rolling his eyes Caleb waved them away. "Actually I think a trip to Nicky's is just what I need after the morning I had."

Giving a cheer, Reid grabbed Tyler's keys and ran for the car. "Last one there springs for dinner."

* * *

"Seems your boys are more perceptive than I gave them credit for." Dakota watched as they sped away, an amused smile on his face. 

"You are a shady character." Gorman grumbled.

"Not half as shady as you dear friend, but I guess they have a reason to be weary of me. I should have had all answers prepared ahead of time. My old mind isn't as sharp as it used to be." Dakota smiled and walked over to resume his seat.

"Now back to what we were talking about before we were so rudely interrupted."

Gorman's anger that he had battled down earlier came boiling back to the surface. "Why the hell didn't you stop him. He has more power now and is enacting ancient rituals that he has no business even knowing about."

"Yes. Unfortunately Riley wasn't as resilient as I originally thought. But you know why I couldn't stop this. These events were meant to happen like this, and Chase Pope is the key to everything."

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Tell me what you thought. If it was good I'll keep going, I'm already halfway through chapter one and that's something as it usually takes me a week to write this much… not a few hours. 


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